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February 19, 2015

I got all weird a few weeks ago about this Japanese craft book, Embroidery pattern & brooch Small flower embroidery that I bought and had trouble sleeping for a few days. I got this out of my system by stitching this. It's my own pattern but heavily influenced by some of the designs in this book, all of which are just amazing. I have yet to find brooch forms. I have some on order from a local shop, but they are not in my hands yet, so this went into a small 3" hoop and is hanging on the wall. I'd like to do a few 2" and 1" pieces next. I used linen to stitch on, lined with muslin for stability, and crewel wool.

I am now getting weird about sewing leotards for ballet and gymnastics for the girls. More on this soon. It's consuming my mind and sewing room. Friends and family are hearing about it a whole lot. I thank you for your smiles and nods.

Unrelated:

I found this Death to Typewriters essay so interesting. I love typewriters! But yes, what a hack job they have done on typography. The comparisons were fascinating.

We have done paper marbling before but never with shaving cream. This looks fun. Maybe? I will have to find unscented shaving cream because I don't want it to smell like weird man in the kitchen.

January 22, 2015

I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out. I got this idea to make maids from after seeing Lydia tie little aprons on her mushroom girl peg dolls. Then I thought, I need a butler, and then, you know—Downton Abbey. I want to make a cook next, and then maybe some ladies of the house. I love Downton Abbey, but I have not even finished season 2. I will someday. I am always way behind the curve with movies/shows, and then always hear spoilers. But then I forget what I heard. My short term memory loss is great for this reason

To make these, I painted the bodies black first and then used text weight white paper for all the white. I glued the paper on with a glue stick and it covered so nicely and is still thin enough to fold and curl around the peg, so it all looks like white paint.

December 17, 2014

I put together these 3 little jars for the girls for solstice. They don't read my blog which is why I am showing them early. I like to give them handmade, or partially handmade, gifts for solstice and I had so much fun making these. The bottles came from Cargo, here in Portland. They are small, only about 3 inches high, and the goodies inside came from Collage, also in Portland. These shops are very dangerous places for me, I try not to go in them very often. Collage carries quite a few miniatures now, which I find delightful.

Unrelated:

I had a cooking fail today—caramel sauce. I am doubly bummed about it because I have made caramel sauce so many times with no issues, but this time I tried it in the microwave (why!?) and not only did it boil over, but them got too hard, and then separated. It was sad. I made Pete throw out all the evidence, so now I am pretending it didn't happen.

December 15, 2014

I stitched these little gifts last weekend. They are framed in 3" hoops. I didn't stitch them in this size hoop though, it's too small to work with. To finish them, I glue a felt circle on the back. Then I sign and date them. Sometimes I accidentally write the wrong year on one of them, like "2004".

The designs are heavily inspired by the book Mariko got me from Japan, which I have blogged about already. I just can't get enough of the combination of wool and silk in the same piece. And working on 3 or more is so fun for me. I work so much better when I am doing multiples of things, then each decision I make doesn't have to be the only one. I was sad when these left my wall.

December 07, 2014

I snatched up quite a bit of free/very low priced yarn this summer and have a big bag staring at me in the sewing room. Mittens and other items have been made from this stash, but I have had the most fun making pompoms. The girls have made them, too. We used cardboard forms we made ourselves, pinterest is full of ideas, and we used a really nice tutorial on mr. printables.

I discovered I can get a little weird with the trimming. It's hard to stop, and when I think I am done, I find more fluff to trim. So I have started timing myself, working only for a few minutes and then moving on. I have enjoyed making these much more since I have set a trimming time rule for myself. It's the little things.

We plan to tie them to gifts and make key chains to clip to bags and zipper pulls. I bought a pack of these Metal Swivel Clasps on a whim and have used them for so many projects. They will be perfect to attach the pompoms to—making them easily clip-able.

Unrelated:

we have been watching the 16 Holiday Life Hacks over on mental floss, and laugh every time. We adore all the life hack videos over there and use uncooked spaghetti to light candles all the time.

December 02, 2014

I stitched this for Grammie for christmas. I gave it to her early so she could hang it up now and enjoy it all winter. It is stitched with wool yarn and silk thread. I was so thrilled to get this book, Wool Stitch, from Mariko. She got it for me in Japan and it's been an endless source of inspiration. I love the combination of wool yarn with the silk or cotton thread in the same color. This was also thrilling because it all came from my stash, no purchases needed, even the frame. I have all kinds of ideas and sketches to stitch and what's so great about this, with the yarn, is it's pretty fast as needlework projects go, making it reasonable for gifts.

Unrelated:

I find myself spending a lot of time looking at pencil blogs. Blogs about pencils. There are so many! And then all the ones about pens, which are different. There are a few blogs about both, which is handy.

And also knitting blogs. I'm very excited by Yokes, a new book by Kate Davies. Wow, the sweaters are amazing. I love her color combinations.

I got a burst of energy last night and cleaned off my desk in anticipation of the arrival of this adorable Moleskine 2015 Volant Color-a-Month daily planner box set. It's a box with 12 little planners tucked inside, a different color for each month. I can't wait for January to start! I might have to get some new pencils. And pens. Because I don't like to play favorites.

November 14, 2014

I knitted these earlier this month and they got worn yesterday in our weird freezing-rain-very-light-snow storm. We lost power for a good 15 hours and it was cold! Good thing Grammie is close by. We headed over there with the pug and got all cozy for the day with her pug. It was a pug day.

I am still enjoying knitting mittens. I love the classic red and white. And again, they are great stash busters. Here's the project page on ravelry.

Unrelated:

I have yet to put anything unusual in the waffle iron. I keep thinking about it, but it hasn't happened yet.

I am scheming about what my homemade holiday gifts will be this year. I have been making cookies/candy/seasoned salts and spice mixes for a few years now and want to try something new.

I have been busy putting some new items in the shop, which I will blog about in detail soon. They are available now and I am so happy to have the new perfume, blemish oil, and beard oil in there before things get too nutty around here.

November 09, 2014

I knitted some mittens. I have never knitted mittens before and really enjoyed it. These are knitted flat (the pattern source is on my ravelry page) and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm going to try another pair in the round, but maybe with the magic loop method. I get a little panicky with DPNs because I have to start and stop so much and I'm freaked everything will fall off my needles when I have to put it down.

I am on a "only using yarn from my stash" kick right now which is great—perfect for hats, mittens, baby booties, and small items. It also means I sometimes don't know or remember what I am knitting with, hence the lack of yarn info on my ravelry page.

Unrelated and about waffles:

I was getting a pedicure with Grammie yesterday morning and while she was talking about Thanksgiving menu ideas I was trying not to be distracted by the large flat screen behind her head that was showing two women putting an alarming amount of unexpected food items into waffle irons. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It was muted of course, and because I was listening to Grammie (I was!) I don't really know what was going on, but I'd like to think I now know enough to try some waffle related disasters here at home. I feel so unadventurous using my waffle iron for normal breakfast waffles after seeing its possibly misguided potential.

I have one non-veggie eater in the house and while she will try anything, actually consuming veggies is pretty hard for her. (Very sensitive gag reflex.) We have our go-to staples, which I am grateful for, but I'm always looking for new ways to prepare veggies. The zucchini fritters have worked in the past, but the oiliness isn't popular, so I am now looking to try something like these zucchini Parmesan waffles. And the latke waffles at Smitten Kitchen look very good. Maybe I can try it with sweet potatos?. Or corn. I found a review of this book, which I want to check out, Will it Waffle? There's a cooking fail that is specific to using a waffle iron that I find pretty horrendous (I usually have to leave the room and Pete gets to deal with the fallout) but if any of these work out, I think there's fun to be had.

October 14, 2014

I stitched this little needle book for a friend's birthday back in August and was finally able to give it to her recently. I love small cross-stitch projects like this. I also love stitching monograms and letters with a small additional element, and kind of designing it as I go. I do need a chart for the letters, but the other element I kind of just make up . It's very freeing and these quicker projects give me some energy to go back to my longer ones. I might just work on needle books for a bit, I love the small scale. These over at mmmcrafts are outstanding.

On the boards— I have a desire to knit some mittens, which I have never done. I have some Halloween accessories to work on, but nothing major. I have some ideas for a new art print I want to make available in the shop, and I would like to start sewing a coat for myself. And new oils for the shop! Thank you for all your orders, I am testing the blemish oil now, along with the others.

Unrelated:

Over the weekend, we saw Beaverton Civic Theater's production of Into The Woods, and had such a good time. I think it's playing for one more week.

October 06, 2014

It was 6:00am my time when we recorded the podcast interview over at While She Naps. I'm on the left there, looking sleepy. (Photo by Amy Sly.) Abby interviewed Ellen Luckett Baker and me for episode #31 and I didn't even swear once. You can listen to the podcast by clicking here at the bottom of the page. Abby and Ellen have been blogging a long time and it was sure nice to reminisce with them about the good ol' days. Abby's epsiode list is pretty great—I'm flattered to be included in such good company. Abby provides so many great resources on her blog and has contributed so much to the sewing/crafting/business of things over the years, it's amazing. This piece on How to Get Started Podcasting is next on my list to read.

September 29, 2014

This is the coat I sewed Delia this year. Like previous years, she picked the fabric and the lining. Her personal style in everyday clothes has changed a lot the past 4 years, but her taste in coats has not. She likes them formal and old fashioned. This thrills me. I used the same pattern I have for years, good ol' simplicity 2543 and made this one with even more room than last year's because she outgrew that one in the arms and shoulders by February.

This fabric, a super soft brushed cotton with a nap, was purchased at the Mill Ends in SE portland. The buttons are vintage and the collar is a piece of felted light blue cashmere sweater. I collect any old cashmere I can for this type of thing. Or for stuffed animals. The lining is a light blue satin that looks like water. Very nice.

I don't have too much to say about this. I think it's the 4th or 5th coat I have sewed from this pattern. I love it to bits. I was going to start this dress once I finished this coat, but now I'm not so sure, it might wait until spring.

unrelated to all this:

I am so happy to report that Greensleeves, the book that I read from the Secret Books list, is on its way to its 3rd reader, as part of a snail mail book group. Very exciting!

I am currently reading Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, loaned to me by a dear friend. It's riveting and breaking my heart and making me comforted and sad all at the same time. I just read a little bit at a time. It's so—life.

I have been enjoying An Idiot Abroad a whole lot. I can't get enough of Karl. It's on instant Netflix.

September 25, 2014

Here are some of my favorite images from the Museum of International Folk Art. This was one of the highlights of my trip. When I was planning this solo trip I knew I wanted to do things that are hard for my family to do with me, like stay in one museum all day, which was the case with this museum. I was there all day, shed a few tears just from how amazing it all was and then pulled a total Amy by getting lost on a trail between the two museums (it was over grown!) and then after swearing, sweating, and back tracking 4 times, jumped a wall, only to land awkwardly in front of a tour bus driving by in the parking lot. I found the other museum (by car) and my ankle was sore. This event gets funnier as time goes by. I realize my impulsive nature is often curbed by my husband or children, and traveling by myself, it came out many times on this trip. I felt very much like me.

September 18, 2014

This is a beautiful book. Big, heavy, and thick, showcasing amazing quilts and fascinating essays by various quilt and textile historians, makers, and museum curators. There are essays by Natalie Chanin, Denyse Schmidt, Kaffe Fassett, to name a few. Janneken Smucker writes an interesting piece about the myths of the history of quilt making, challenging the commonly held belief that quilts were always made of scraps and came from a "make-do" mentality.

It took me awhile to actually read the essays because I was so mesmerized by the quilts, which are all from Roderick Kiracofe's collection. This books makes my heart skip a little every time I open it. I love quilts that are "off" and all of them have this quality. There is so much inspiration in here—I can only look at a few quilts at a time. It's a very special book.

September 12, 2014

We had a lovely time in Sunriver, Oregon recently. There were no swan encounters. We saw one, but she was not aggressive with us. There was lots of bike riding, swimming, and canoeing. We like to go after school has started—it much quieter at the pool and on the ike trails. There is this magic quality to the light during early September. It's not quite fall but not summer either.

Delia started knitting hand warmers while we were there. Super easy, no pattern. I will show it soon. She knit a swatch long enough to fit around her wrist, counted the stitches then knit a flat piece with a little ribbing at the top and bottom. She sewed it up, making a tube, and left an opening for a thumb hole. She's finished one, and wears it. Just the one. It's black yarn with reflector thread in it so it glows in the dark. Perfect.

August 27, 2014

I bought this very lightweight printed linen at Jospehine's Dry Goods over the weekend. Josephine's recently re-opened in a new location and I hadn't been there yet. It's such a lovely shop. The very small shop is beautifully merchandised and the selection of fine garment fabrics is outstanding. They have more Liberty than I have ever seen in one shop before. They also carry lovely wool suiting. I also bought this sewing pattern by Sew House Seven (local talent) and am eager to sew it up. I almost didn't find the shop—the entrance to the store is through a lobby, look for signs, it's right next to Koi Fusion on Division. Right now I am sewing Delia's fall coat, I'm hoping to get that done before I start this dress.

Unrelated:

I have started a ridiculous but delicious research project—trying the best fish tacos in Portland. The best might be debatable, really. I'm just trying them anywhere I can, whether it be a place I have gone before, or by making a special trek to try an unfamiliar fish taco. After 3 days in a row, I have taken a break, but will resume soon. Photos and thoughts are forthcoming.

I am taking a vacation (alone!) in September to Santa Fe and am terribly excited. If anyone has thoughts, tips, or suggestions for activities, food, sightseeing, l'd love to hear about them.

August 21, 2014

I stitched this birthday gift for a friend recently. I am 99% done with my latest cross-stitch, but I needed a break. I used Renaissance Dyeing wool thread on linen fabric, backed with muslin. It's my own design, a bunny perched on top of a huge strawberry. Right after I finished this piece I saw these small animals stitched by Chloe Giordano, and oh my word. She uses thread. Sewing machine thread. You have to look.

unrelated:

I finished Greensleeves, which came up on the Secret Book post, and loved it so much. It's very hard to find this out-of-print book and it's such a good read, I'm going to loan it out to any of you who want to read it. It's already headed to someone, and I hope to get in back in a couple months, so if you are interested and don't mind waiting, I will put you on the list. Just e-mail me. It would be super swell if you want to add some notes/thoughts in the back, or maybe we can have a small book to write in to go along with it? Or a sheet of paper tucked inside? We can make it like a traveling book group. Tia, I didn't mention this when I sent it your way, so let me know what you think. I have also attached a book loan check-out pocket with a stampable due date. This is a high school library copy, so has it has it's own pocket and date-stamps from 1969 on up, which is charming to look at and ponder about all the high school kids that read it.

August 15, 2014

I'm not sure when I learned how to make this easy textured paper, I think it was in a box making class in college. I was obsessed with it for a while and made stacks and used it quite a lot in various projects and then moved on and tucked this knowledge into the back corners in my brain for years. Lydia wanted to make a treasure map recently and we thought distressed textured paper would be prefect, and my brain remembered this easy technique. Go brain! This might be super common knowledge, but it just came back to me, so I'd thought I'd share.

This works great with text-weight everyday printer paper. I also love using brown paper bags from the grocery store. I had the girls crumple it up in a tight ball and then un-flatten it, about 5-8 times. It gets softer and softer and seems to shrink. Making a tight ball is important.

This is after the crumple-flattening about 5 times.

Iron it with a hot dry iron. They love to iron!

Done! This makes wonderful decorative paper for making cards and envelopes, and for covering boxes and wrapping gifts— if you use brown, it kind of looks like leather. For treasure maps we use grocery bags and rub in some dirt and and rip it up a bit and burn a little bit in the middle and on the edges, because who doesn't like to burn stuff!?

August 10, 2014

I am close to finishing this cross stitch project. the pattern is by Stacy Nash Primitives and it's called Basket of Flowers Pinkeep. I want to get back to some crewel work. I have enjoyed doing this, but I get a little twitchy when I stitch so many X's.

I'm reorganizing (mostly down-sizing) my craft/sewing room, focusing on the two huge bookshelves. It's taken two weeks, but I am almost done. I plan to "shop my craftroom" for the next year (I could for probably do this for 5 years) and try to lay-off adding more craft books and supplies, now that I can see and organize what I actually have. It feels good, but it was so hard to stick with it—I was willing to do anything to avoid working on it, including cleaning out the fridge and the freezer.

I am almost done with Greensleeves, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. It's so good, I am loving every page of it. This book was mentioned a few times in the comments of my Secret Books post, and I was so happy I found a copy, because it seems pretty hard to find. My mom (Grammie) actually met Eloise and owned signed copies of her books. Who knew? Grammie was a newspaper reporter and editor, and so was her mom, so it's hard to keep track of all the Portland people they all knew over the years. She didn't have a copy of this book, however. I found one at good ol' Powelll's books.

August 05, 2014

This morning I had my figs with ricotta, honey and pistachios. Delicious. I love this combination so much, but searching for fig recipes on Pinterest has given me many other ideas.

Some random links:

I just saw this from Powell's Books, a list of 25 books "to read before you die". I had only heard of a few of these books. It's an interesting list.

I haven't really done much weaving, but if I get into it, especially with the kids, this tutorial over at HonestlyWTF is really helpful. I do get a little creeped out by some weaving like this. I always am afraid of finding bugs and bug eggs hiding in the loose wool. If it's tightly woven, I'm okay, but once it goes puffy, I get the willies. Surely not rational, but I can't help it.

July 31, 2014

We are in full summer mode in Portland now, with lots of hot days and we are feeling it! We have no AC. We live in the shade, so it's not so bad, and I love actually feeling the seasons. This is what I tell myself at 6pm and it's not possible to think about cooking and I'm starting to have a mommy moment.

These internet items are making me so happy:

Crazy cool sticker mandala at Honestly WTF (via: I don't remember, but from somewhere—not me.) This looks so amazing. And funny. I love seeing the random football or hot dog. It also looks not inexpensive. I would love to try this with rubber stamps.

I can't wait to try these make your own embellishments from pine is here. I love pouring liquid plastic on anything.

Mexican Ornament from Hello Sandwich.This looks like it's a class, but I just like looking at it. I'd like to make one similar, with found paper and bits and pieces from around our (hot) house.

July 22, 2014

Lydia had a blast at her week-long day camp at Trackers Earth last month. She promptly taught her two older sisters how to finger knit. She learned a few other things, too. She milked a goat, made cheese and butter, and "picked up chickens and did animal stuff." The finger knitting has been very popular and kept the girls busy. I don't even know how to do this, I need her to show me how. They all know how to knit with needles, but this has been really fun for them. They like to make longs scarves, for dolls and themselves, and I think there is a rug being started, but I am not sure. What a great way to use up yarn from my stash!

I had the kids draw a design with sharpie first, repetitive images and patterns worked best. They did this flat on the table onto the fabric directly, outside, because this project is stinky and there is much stain potential. A drop cloth was mandatory. Then we placed the fabric in the hoops, tightened them up, and stared dripping drops of rubbing alcohol with droppers (a brush worked, too) and let the colors bleed together. This was the fun part. Dripping the alcohol while the fabric is in the hoop keeps the pieces from back-staining and up off the table.

We let them dry while doing a scavenger hunt and then trimmed off the extra fabric from the back, tied them with yarn, and they took them home as party favors.

They all turned out so pretty, they were very proud of them! The ages were 6-11 and they all did amazing work.

June 30, 2014

Every year we have a big 4th of July party with my extended family and this year my Aunt gave us three shirts to decorate for a group photo she wants to take of all the kid cousins. These were so fun and easy to make. She made them for our little boy cousins, all they had to do was press their blue-painted hand on the shirt. I think she painted the stripes for them. Having the different sized hands on the shirts is pretty cute. For ours, the girls did them all on their own. They did some t-shirt altering first—cropped the length, cut off the neck, and shortened the sleeves. Done, with dance poses, no less!

June 26, 2014

We lucked out with the weather last week at the Oregon coast. We stopped at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, which was so picturesque and interesting. They have an interpretive center and a guided lighthouse tour which was excellent. On Agate beach nearby, the dunes were forming which is always fun. The pug was very excited by the dunes. I got a bee in a bonnet about making crafts from collected driftwood. The girls liked this project in theory, but in reality, they were busy running around and digging in the sand. Liddy made this frame with simple thread wrapping. I used string and a small hand drill for mine.

June 09, 2014

We were inspired to make some blanks books and fill them with poems after learning that Emily Dickinson would take notes throughout the day and then later, copy her poems onto small pieces of paper. She would then sew these into simple soft cover books. The girls loved the idea of having a small stack of books they could tie up with string and tuck away somewhere special. We used blank paper inside and newsprint for the covers. The girls copied some of their favorite poems of hers into the books and added their own. The almost 7-year-old copied a short one. So sweet.

Related to this, we have gotten into bookbinding and are learning to make one style of book a week. Usually on Fridays. I try for a simple style, one that we can finish in one sitting, but the older girls are also interested in more complicated bookmaking, too. So far, were are working with non-adhesive book binding—lots of folding and sewing. Instant books, accordion books, (mini modular origami) and that kind.

Delia mentioned she wanted to make a book with a leather over, all Hobbit style, with a coptic binding and all that, which I know how to do, but it's been a while, so I looked around and found not only a wonderful tutorial for making a leather journal, exactly the kind she wants to make, but a plethora of professional and easy-to-follow bookbinding tutorials over at Sea Lemon, on you tube. They are so good!

This one here is great for showing a simple saddle-stitch binding. It uses up a single spiral notebook to make 4 smaller ones. Here's a link directly to her bookmaking project videos, she has even more, but this is a good place to start. I am really excited to have found her videos.

She also has a whole lot of craft projects, too. We already made a mess with the homemade slime. Lava lamps are up next.

May 29, 2014

I got the Sajou catalog and have been poring over it with lots of sighs and oohs. I received a few items for my birthday, a tape measure and a needlebox—both of these are so nicely made. The boxes they come packed in are lovely.

Unrelated-

I was looking online for some information about Emily Dickinson and found a short analysis of her work by Crash Course. It was a bit advanced for the girls but enlightening to me, and the girls liked it a whole lot despite not quite understanding all of it. There are a ton of videos by Crash Course. A whole bunch. I haven't seen very many, but what I have seen I really like. Again, I think they are a bit advanced for all 3 girls (6, 9, 11) but they are great for me and I am surprised at what they enjoy. I watch them all first alone, to get a sense of what topics come up, especially for the 6-year-old. They are jam-packed and move very fast because they are only about 11 minutes. I often pause the video to explain subjects before moving on. I'm pretty excited to watch more, especially the US history ones.

I do feel a little like I've been under a rock, here. These courses are made by John and Hank Green and I had never heard of either of them. After typing their names into google, I see they are famous and John Green is hugely famous. He's a New York Times best selling author, (YA books) and I now realize I have seen his book cover in every store I have been in the last year or so. I sure like his content in these videos. I am very curious about his books. I haven't watched any videos with Hank yet. I'm out of it! But I can tell you all about hand-dyed thread and the Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch.

May 26, 2014

For Mother's Day (and again for my birthday) I received some chocolate from Pete. He bought them at Cacao in Portland, a wonderful little shop selling fancy chocolate bars and delicious drinking chocolate. I loved everything shown here. I am a huge fan of dark chocolate but find most of it too chalky. I like the taste, but not the texture. These are all so smooth and wonderful to eat—the Patric being my favorite. It is so sophisticated and has so many flavors in one bite. I just loved it. He talked with the sales folks quite a bit and they told him these were all delicious and they were right.

Unrelated:

I am super happy to see Bil Nye has a channel on youtube with a ton of full episodes of his shows, including the series The Eyes of Nye, which is nice for older kids.

I have been telling friends that want to learn to knit about the amazing (and free!) projects designed just for beginners over at Tin Can Knits. It's called The Simple Collection. It's new to me and seems so wonderful to learn from these designs that are specifically meant to teach basic knitting skills simply and clearly. The designs are lovely, as well.

May 22, 2014

I finished the kit from Tristan Brooks Designs a bit back and have it up on our needlework wall. It was a great project. I have since started another crewel work project and then got agitated and took a break from it. I was using different wool thread and fabric than what I had used in the two kits and the materials are vexing me. I don't think I will scrap it, but I do need to give it a rest. I am now onto a new cross-stitch project and it's going well.

She collects these patterns and I wasn't sure if she'd be up for doing a project with this many stitches, but she went for it. There was some frustration but she stuck it out and I'm so proud of her. And she is of herself. She keeps saying she can't believe she finished it. She has since finished two quick and small projects to avoid burnout. I'm not sure if she will do another calendar girl, now that she realizes how long they take.

My mind kind of broke (again) in researching samplers. I discovered darning samplers, which I never knew existed and I can't even look at the pinterest board I found for more than 5 minutes before I get overwhelmed. I haven't even scrolled down to see what is on there, I'm still stuck on the top few rows.

I'm super excited because my birthday is coming up and I plan to buy a bunch of needlework books and word has it grammie ordered a cake for me from one of my favorite bakeries, which now has a dedicated cake baking storefront, The Cakery. This name makes me so happy.

We are headed to Oracs Island soon and I am so excited to be outside and on an adventure. Hopefuly the weather will behave somewhat. I can't believe we lived in Seattle for 5 years and never went there.

We are studying Emily Dickinson right now and I am giddy with all the materials available at the library and online. I will cull them all soon. I am learning so much about her, I knew very little and once again I love discussing how conflicting/different biographical materials are with the girls when we learn about people and history.

May 18, 2014

It was such a fun time seeing Grammie (my mom) show off her quilts to family and friends at Modern Domestic yesterday. The sun came out and so many people came to see her work. She realized, when thinking about it, that over the years she has probably made over 200 quilts. None of these were for sale, they were made for family friends, babies, herself—just for the love of making quilts. There are about 12 in this show, such a small sampling.

Here's Grammie in the pink sweater with a dear friend, a woman who I have known all my life. You can see an amazing quilt of grammies behind them. The one thing people kept remarking on, besides her amazing piecing skills and choice of colors—is how much her machine quilting adds texture and dimension to her quilts. They are so amazing in person, a photo just can't show the level of detail.

This one in the forground is a log cabin made of 1/2" strips. The machine quilting on it takes it to a whole other level, it's hard to even see that it's a log cabin until you are up close.

The quilts are going to be up a few more weeks, so please take a look if you are in the neighborhood. And thanks to all my ladies and friends who came to hang out and hear Grammie say funny stuff, she didn't disappoint! We love you, Grammie!

May 15, 2014

Grammie has been quilting for so long, for herself and professionally, and this is her first show. She has showered her family and loved ones with quilts over the years—my daughters, my brother, my husband, my grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins, we all have quilts that have been made by her hands and they are all so special to us. I think she will have about 10 quilts in this show, a fraction of what she has done over the years. She has pieced and machine stitched all of these. There are probably are some quilts with appliqué and hand-quilting in this show, too. All of the work done by her. I couldn't be more proud. Her show is at:

May 09, 2014

I started another crewel kit I found in my stash of supplies. This one has been so much fun. It's made by Tristian Brooks Designs and it comes with everything you need except the hoop. I love being able to use different threads. For my first kit I used Appleton thread, which I liked, but hadn't used anything else to compare it to. This kit comes with Heathway crewel wools, Gumnut Poppies (silk/wool blend), and Pearsall’s silk. I have been pretty immersed in reading and learning about threads, fabrics, and stitches for crewel. I also have been assessing my thread stash and needlework organization and wanting to clean up and clear out and display some items that are so lovely to look at.

Two days ago I had what my Mom calls a "Hello Kitty freak-out" when I rediscovered the Sajou webite. I had known about Sajou and bought (from a now closed needlework shop) a really amazing book by the historical company years ago, but hadn't really gone back to look at what they had in they last few years, and when I did my brain kind of exploded.

The complete catalog is online and there looks to be a few distributors in the US that carry some of these items. The sewing boxes got me all twitchy as did the scissors, ribbons, wooden supplies, and thread holders. I don't even know what to buy, I just had to look at the catalog for hours. This is what my mom was talking about. When I did have my "Hello Kitty freak-out" I was about 9 and found a Hello Kitty store and couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't actually buy anything, I just had to look. For hours. And she let me. She just sat and waited, telling me there was no hurry. I finally calmed down, and then left, empty handed and exhausted. She didn't say a word and was amazing.

Oh, this is turning into an unexpected Mother's Day post!

Speaking of my wonderful Mom, (Gayle Karol of Tilie Studio fame and known as Grammie on this blog) she is having a quilt show at Modern Domestic and the opening reception is next Saturday May 17th from 1-3. I will write about this more soon. I can't wait. Her quilts are so stunning in person.

April 28, 2014

I finished my first crewel work project a few weeks ago and I have fallen hard for this type of embroidery. This kit is by The Crewelwork Company. It's called Secret Squirrel, and sadly, is hard to find and not made anymore, but some shops still have it. I bought it a long time ago and tucked it away and then a swift 6 years went by and rediscovered it along with quite a bit of other needlework items I bought around that time. My favorite shop went out of business and I bought everything I could, knowing I would be happy later I did, and I sure am.

Here's a close up. The color is a bit off, the color above is much more accurate.

I feel like I am in a race car stitching crewel compared to cross-stitch and needlepoint on canvas and the painter in me is giddy over the ability to mix color and directions and make marks with the threads. It's so much fun. I have started another kit and then I am onto my own designs. I really am happy I am taking the time to work from kits now, to get a sense of color, learning different stitches, and working on precision without have to make design decisions along the way—but I already have drawn my own designs and they are waiting in the wings. The amount of research about fabric, wool threads, and browsing the vast amount of amazing books about crewel has been so fun to dive into. I have to be careful and back away from the computer, because you know, I could also be stitching instead of researching. I have been looking at books over at The Mad Samplar, and reading about crewel technique over at Needle n' Thread.

On the opposite side of this type of work, I have been madly stitching for the girls' ballet recital coming up, Alice in Wonderland, and it's been a lot of sheers, feathers, fake furs, hat making, glue gunning, serging, and tons of fast, furious, and loud sewing. So, my embroidery will have to be on hold for a couple weeks.

unrelated:

I was told to watch Mortified Nation on instant netflix (thanks sarah!) and oh, man, it's so good. It remnds me of This American Life, at it's most cringy. In the best way.

April 19, 2014

Delia finished her first needlepoint recently. She was happy doing cross stitch but when she saw me try needlepoint, she was eager to start. She chose this pattern from a book and picked out her own colors, and off she went. She's now back onto another cross stitch project and heavy into making rainbow loom charms. She learns them from this you tube channel, Made by Mommy.

Unrelated:

I recently went to Frice Pastry, an amazing bakery new to me, and was so happy I made the stop. I found quite a round up Portland bakeries over at Under the Table with Jen. I am glad to see I've been to almost all of them, but there's a few I still need to check out. Research! It's a great list.

I ate this at Frice and took home many other items. This was so amazing, but I can't remember the name of it. I bought another to take home to Pete. It's got an almond filling with a puff- pastry crust. it's not too sweet and the texture is as light as air.

Also, unrelated:

I finally updated my website. It's been about 8 years, so this feels pretty good. It's got all my shenanigans in one place and it's much easier now to get to all my videos on creatvebug. Yippee!

April 15, 2014

We spontaneously made some chocolate cereal nests yesterday. I had 3/4 of a box of very unpopular shredded wheat cereal, unsweetened, and didn't want to get rid of it, so I melted a bag of chocolate chips and stirred it all up. I had made these before years ago and it was fun, but kind of a mess and hard to shape. These were so much easier and fun to make.

I used the food processor to make the cereal fine and crossed my fingers that one bag of melted chocolate chips was enough for about 3/4 of a box of finely chopped cereal. After a lot of stirring, it was just fine. Adding shredded coconut to the mix would have been good, too.

For shaping, we used cupcake liners in a tin. I had the girls scoop in the mixture, press with their fingers to make a little indent, and then chilled them until they firmed up. They keep fine room temperature after that. This amount made 12 nests in a standard muffin tin. They make the nests a bit more uniform and less natural, but were so much easier to handle and shape. The paper came off just fine and they are so tasty.

Unrelated-

I have taken a break from my shawl (pattern and yarn here) to start on a crewel work project and am having so much fun. More needlework excitement! I have been buying/collecting/ needlework kits and books of all kinds for years now and only recently have been able to dive in. I have been shopping in my own closet and bins and can't believe what I have stashed away that I had forgotten about. My tastes don't really change at all, so what I have found, I love. I am so happy I snatched things up when I saw them on sale years ago.

April 10, 2014

Dinner at Tilt with the Ladies. I can still feel my biscuit sandwich a day later. The pies were very good.

I streamed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with the Bee Gees, while I was sewing for the girls' upcoming ballet show. I loved this movie when I was little and now that I watch it again I marvel at how it got made. It's so bad, confusing, boring, and wonderful. Peter Frampton's white overalls are outstanding. How could I have forgotten Steve Martin was in this movie?

I am knitting my first shawl and really digging it. The idea of grabbing a yarn and needles, casting on, and then stopping when I am out of yarn is thrilling to me.

April 04, 2014

I finished my first needlepoint project and am so happy with how it turned out. I used a pattern from this book and just stitched until it felt done. The frame is 8" x 8" and the mat opening is 5" x 5". This is stitched in hand-dyed silk. Next up will be my first crewel work project. I'm really excited.

Here's how our needlework wall is looking. I'm prepared for the fact that the girls might want to have their pieces in their rooms eventually. For now, they are happy to have them up here, which I love. It's the first wall you see when you come in our house. All these pieces make me so happy.

April 01, 2014

This was a quick knit made with malabrigo rasta. I used 17 needles and knit a big rib until I ran out of yarn and then seamed it up. It's a belated birthday gift for a dear friend who lives in a climate that is too warm for this right now. But, you know, It was so fun to work on. Mindless and huge. It was a nice change from my needlepoint that is tiny and a bit eye straining.

It's poetry month!

We have been reading a lot more poetry around here the last few weeks, and I didn't even know poetry month was coming up. Recently, the girls and I have been reading these wonderful postcards from MIEL evey morning, discussing the artwork and the text written on them. There is something magical about the words not being in a book, but on a cards, to pass around and study closely. I show some photos of these postcards here. We also still use this book.They want to write some poems on small cards and leave them in public places, which I fully support.

I found myself spending a lot of time on Poets.org. It's a huge site for writers, readers, and educators. I signed up for the poem-a-day (which is e-mailed to me) and I love it. It sends me poems I would have never found on my own.

March 20, 2014

Delia wanted to make some fire starters. She remembered that it was a skill on DIY she could earn and is always looking for a reason to play with fire or melted wax, which is understandable to me. I was sort of a firebug, too. There are so many recipes and methods for making these. We read a few recipes and then just used what we had around on hand and what seemed safe to burn.

She gathered newspaper and dryer lint. She busted out the cutest elephant paper shredder in the world to shred it. I got this for the girls a few years ago on a whim and they love it and use it all the time. So do I.

Then she poured in melted soy wax that we had left over from our candle making. I love soy wax so much.

She wrapped them in wax paper to make an easy wick for lighting. Also, it makes them look like little candies, which she finds very pleasing. We used these in the fireplace, and they worked—but we learned a lot. Using a lot of wax is fun and pretty, but it just melts like crazy and covers too much of the material inside, so it didn't burn right away. Next time less wax would be better. Or, just using the egg carton method, but she said they weren't as cute. I understand.

Once the wax melted away and the paper finally ignited these worked great. There are many recipes for these out there, most of which seem great, some I'd worry about breathing in the fumes of what they were burning, so I feel good about these we made. Next, I want to make a tinderbox from an altoid tin, like I saw demonstrated at Fort Clatsop. Also, I really want to put together this Altoids Survival Kit 2.0.

March 14, 2014

During the hustle and bustle of the holiday madness we bought this book— Making Peg Dolls by Margaret Bloom, at the wonderful Portland toy shop, SpielWerk Toys, just for ourselves. Sadie and I fell in love with it immediately. It has so many adorable peg doll ideas with patterns and directions, all organized by the seasons. It took us until now to start projects from it. These were made in about an hour, the paint on them dries really fast. I helped Lydia with the stitching and the face painting on her birds. The girls know their way around making peg dolls and clothes pin dolls—Delia even helped me teach a class on making some over on Creativebug.

This might be my favorite page, but the halloween one is pretty outstanding, too. There are some great tips in this book. The only thing that I find vexing about felt is gluing it to itself. Felt on wood is fine, but felt on felt can be really difficult.

We got our unfinished pegs from Casey's Wood Products which shipped really fast, even though they are across the country from us. This was serious business—the sorting and dividing of the wood dolls. Lots of lists and notes and math.

March 02, 2014

Taking a break from my more ambitious knitting projects, I have been fitting in some smaller projects, like these booties and a hat. You can see them on my ravelry page, but I kept really bad records, the yarn info is long gone. The booties pattern is legit, the hat pattern I made up. I've been knitting booties from this pattern for many years. I think this is my 6th or 7th pair I have made. These were made for friends expecting little ones soon, very exciting!

I was in a spinning mood last night, which is unusual for me. I'm not a night person, I wish I were, but I am not at all. I am a morning person. At night, I'm not worth much, but I can do certain things that require little of me, like winding yarn and winding embroidery floss onto little bobbins. The paper things, you know what I mean. Spools? Anyhoo, I wound many, many little hanks of crazy messy embroidery floss onto spools, and then about 7 hanks of different yarns I had bought, stashed, and had not used yet, because they were still in hanks. It was so pleasing and mellowed out my crazy brain a bit. I am now looking for more to wind around the house.

Has anyone worked with Weeks Dye Works thread that comes in 2-3 strand floss? I find the idea of not having to separate strands thrilling, and so would my daughters. Pattern-wise—I was tipped to this site in the comments that has insanely cute cross-stitch designs that the girls now love, The Frosted Pumpkin, and these at Satsuma Street are unlike any I have seen before, the colors make me so happy. The girls also love the patterns in I am not a doll. We keep visiting Alicia's patterns and Hillary's patterns, too.

Random:

I just saw Francis Ha on netflix instant and liked it a whole lot. I have been watching movies while working out on the elliptical trainer in the mornings and have seen so many over the last few months. I have to watch them in about 3 sessions, depending on the movie, and I really like breaking it up this way. I get to think about the film between workouts. It's sort of the opposite of binge watching, I guess. Francis Ha was not at all what I thought it was going to be.

February 25, 2014

We have moved all of our framed needlework pieces to one wall, instead of hanging them all around the house. Even since taking these photos Sadie has added a new framed piece. So exciting! I have dated and named them all on the back. Some are mine, some are the girls', and the stunner floral crewelwork was done by my aunt. She gave it to my mom probably 30 years ago, and two years ago my mom had it framed and gave it to me, knowing how much I have always loved it. It's one my most favorite things. Liddy is working with plastic canvas, but recently has started her first knitting project and her variegated yarn is so pleasing—stripes without the work! We have been doing all this while listening to Percy Jackson, the audio book, which has been really fun, and then I get to do some needlework, too. They told Pete he should start knitting, which I think is a great idea.

Needlework has a special place in my heart because it's the only thing I have been doing recently that is non-utilitarian. I can get all brain-busy when I make things for a purpose—like garment sewing or knitting clothes, because I can usually make it for less money, or for a specific need, or whatever. It's fun but it's not exactly artistic for me, although it is creative for me. Only when I make things that I can't use do I feel—that feeling. Maybe it's that feeling of doing something artistic and working through any guilt that I could (should) be doing something more useful, like sewing for the girls or knitting a sweater for someone. I fall into a trap thinking I need to be able to use what I make, or if i can't use it, at least sell it, for it to be worth doing and this is not what I really think at all, but it's how I behave. It wasn't until I started doing needlework just for fun and wondering why it felt so different that I start to think about why it felt different.

February 06, 2014

I have been wanting to try some needlepoint for a bit and feel closer to actually starting a project. My mom stitched a footstool for her mother in the 1970s and was telling me about it (sadly, it's gone now) and I want to make one. I don't think I'm going to start with a footstool, just a small swatch to begin with. I found this book at Powells, used, and it's exactly what I was hoping to find. I'm reading it before bed like it's a mystery I can't put down.

Unrelated:

the girls and I are having fun watching the short movies on BrainPOP. We have only seen the free ones—they are pretty funny and well done.

January 27, 2014

It felt so good to finish my first color work project, this fair isle hat. There are a ton of mistakes in my chat reading, but I love it anyway. If you repeat a mistake enough times, it's a design feature, right?

I'm back onto Cypress now, I project that has been on hold for about a year. I am having fun getting back into it. I'm not sure if I will wear it, it's a bit hobbit for me and I only feel hobbit about 15% of the time. I'm thinking it might look nice with a sheer blouse under to lighten the look a little. Then I'm onto this Icelandic sweater, which will be epic for me.

unrelated:

I have been exercising a lot lately, I was during the holidays—and then got sick and took a break. I have started up again and feel so much better. This exact time last year I had a horrible herniated disk and was helping Grammie though awful chemo treatment and I just remember how hard it all was physically and emotionally. It all feels very different this winter. I feel so grateful everyday to have my body back—strong and healthy, and that Grammie is doing better.

I have been doing cardio every other day, but was nervous to go back to yoga, because so much of what I do involves bending forward, which isn't good for my back even now. I got a tip from a few friends about Barre 3 online workouts and love it so far. I signed up for the 15 days for free deal. I do the 10 minute workouts in the mornings and they make me pretty shaky, in a good way. I plan to tack on a 10 minute workout in the evening, but so far I haven't. I was doing the 7-minute thing but I do worry about injury and the micro movements of the Barre 3 workouts just feel a little safer for the way I move. I also tend to get in laughing fits with the 7-minute workout thing if anyone is in the room, which they usually are. This is why I don't take classes at a gym. When I have, with friends, it's pretty disruptive. I just can't keep it together at all.

January 19, 2014

One of my knitting goals that was brewing last year was to try fair isle knitting. I then proceeded to not try it, knitting two sweaters instead, and then turning back to cross-stitch at the end of the summer. I recently got all excited about trying a Lopi sweater and knew it would be unwise to try color work the first time on a sweater project. So, while I wait and plot my sweater, I am working on this hat—the pattern is from the excellent class over at Creativebug.They reduced their monthly fee for unlimited classes, very cool and very affordable!

So, the hat is going well. Except that I totally messed up the pattern, but more on that in a second.

My knitting history: I tried to get serious about knitting a few times, the first when I was about 18, and then again at about 20. I knit a few hats. In my late 20s in Seattle I took a real knitting class and the wise teacher (seeing I hadn't really clocked many hours knitting) taught me to pick and told me to knit that way. I was throwing until then, but because I was never serious about knitting, switching to picking wasn't a big deal. She told me one day, I'd be happy I knew both. Especially for color work. Thank you wise knitting teacher!

So, holding two colors in two different hands is not a big deal. My tension needs work, as does my concentration, because I have since totally screwed up this color work pattern, but you know what? I'm not taking it out. Because it's still pretty and I am proud of it and I just think it will still be a great hat, just not a perfect hat, and that's just fine. It's a practice project that happens to keep a head warm, it's a win-win as I see it.

I am very tired because last night I went down a knitting rabbit hole and have still not come out the other side. I found The Fringe Association, by Karen Templer. I am sure I am the last knitter to know of this site, right? But wow. I love it so much. She has a shop, and interviews, and wonderful taste, and a ton of info and some free patterns. This Beginning to Knit series had me up all night.

January 13, 2014

Four different types of hand pies were served for brunch with my brother yesterday. I made a double batch of dough earlier in the week. I rolled out, filled, and baked them when I had time. They are perfect for leftovers, the fillings can be almost anything. For brunch I made a ham and cheese, an apple sausage and cheese (just grated cheese and chopped meat, that's it) and a cinnamon apple. I cooked chopped apple, butter, and cinnamon sugar a little first. I also made a pies filled with a super thick caramelized mushroom cream sauce that I had made for a different dinner earlier in the week. These pie work best with no more than about 1/3 cup of filling—which is perfect for me because I like to save even the smallest amounts (too small for another full meal) perfect for a hand pie filling. The recipe for the dough I used is in the last post, but I made 8 pies with that recipe, not 10.

I like to bake them right way, then freeze. To serve these for brunch I took them out the night before and heated them for about 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven Sunday morning before serving. My brother was smitten. I noticed he took some home, too. The girls enjoyed these filling much more than the quiona ones I made first, but I like those, too.

I have starting knitting my fair isle hat, after two attempts failed—the yarn kept breaking! I am working from my stash and don't really know what I am using, but I just feel good using something up. However, breaking yarn is not cool. I am also stumped a new sewing project. I have too much clothing as it is. I love all my clothes and don't even get a chance to wear what I already have, which is why I love sewing for the girls, so maybe a quilt, next? Or something for Grammie.

Anyhoo, I am going to focus more on teaching the girls to sew, I think. They do a little already, (especially with Grammie) but now they are old enough to start and finish a project on their own, with help, and I think teaching how to actually finish something is huge. It's so satisfying to complete a project. A long project, something that takes more than a day. Sewing often is much faster than that, but you know what I mean. The two older girls just finished their first cross stitch and they are so proud. They started them over a year ago. I framed them and hung them right away. Seeing them focused on their little hoops with a needle and thread in the evenings breaks my heart in two with joy.

January 08, 2014

I was compelled to make some handpies after seeing Erin's on Instagram. The recipe is here, from Mad Hungry. I didn't make the chicken pot pies this was used for on the Mad Hungry site, but instead stuffed them with quinoa, garbanzo beans, and a cabbage, fennel, kale, carrot slaw, heavy spiced with garam masala. The pastry recipe says it makes 10, but 8 seemed better to me. The dough is so easy to work with. Not healthy, mind you—butter, cream cheese, and white flour, so I tried to make the filling a little more nutritious, to my daughters' dismay. Any filling would be good in these I think, savory or sweet. I baked them and froze them and Pete takes them to work. The girls have requested a different filling next time.I think they are delicious.

I'm feeling a strong urge to bake, It's dark and wet out. Right now, an oatmeal batter bread is rising and a knitting project is starting—a fair isle hat, to get me started on color knitting before my big project, the Icelandic sweater. Last year I went from never having knit a sweater to knitting three. This makes me very happy.

January 05, 2014

We made it through. It was a lovely but tiring December—6 Nutcracker shows with all three girls dancing this year, and then the holidays and then a bad violent bout of the norovirus that hit all 5 of us at once. It was pretty terrible—the house just sort of shut down for two days, but we recovered. We then went to the Oregon coast after we all felt better and it was so warm, sunny, beautiful and relaxing. We all needed it so much.

The girls just chilled out with some needlework they hadn't worked on in a long time and I finished a cross-stitch piece that I started last year, which I am very excited to have done. Delia learned how to make balloon animals which was really fun and so her. Taking them all home was cumbersome and I have no idea where she stashed them in her room now, but you'd think I'd know where over 20 balloon animals would be in the house, but I don't know, and I'm not sure I want to.

I spent some time thinking about new projects I want to try this year and I realize I can't think very far out, only what I want to do next. I really want to try and knit with multiple colors this year, and am very excited to try a Lopapeysa sweater. I went back and read all of Kay's great posts on her lopapeysa sweater obsession. I try not to bug her too much about knitting, but knowing I can makes me so happy. It's kind of like knowing a superhero, it just feels good to know she is out there when I need her. With a cape, knitted of course. Or a shrug. Or, duh—a cowl, what was I thinking? Of course it's a cowl. I think I will try this wonderful free pattern here.

December 15, 2013

I knitted these wristwarmers for a gift. I think I knit them this month, but it might have been in November. It's sort of been a blur. They are super easy and don't require much yarn or brain activity, which was exactly what I needed. I am so sad I didn't have super cute nail polish on when I shot this, like they do on the cover of Learn to Knit, Love to Knit, by Anna Wilkinson, which is where this wonderful pattern came from. I was sent a review copy (the US version, the original UK version came out in 2012) and LOVE it—this is all I have knitted from the book, but I have my eye on a hat pattern next. I love it that Ravelry has all the patterns to look at.

I have been baking. A lot. And have had some baking fails this month—forgetting the flour in a cake. What? Granted, it is a very wet cake batter even with the flour, so it's not as crazypants as it sounds. But still, a bit crazy. It boiled over violently and the oven with filled with chocolate magma. There was also a disastrous coconut macaroon episode. I'm still not sure what happen there, but they were way too wet, again ruining the bottom of the oven.

These apricot ginger shortbread squares saved the day. They call them apricot crumbles, but it doesn't really describe them enough in my book. I make them every year. I bake them, freeze them in the parchment-lined pan, and then take the whole thing out frozen and cut into perfect squares. Then thaw. They are so good and so pleasing. I just made another batch with raspberry jam and chopped pecans.

December 11, 2013

I feel like the most rebellious thing I could do right now is work on these cross-stitch ornaments. I've been so busy baking, stuffing cookie bags, making flavored salt, sending cards, and sewing up a storm for the girls' nutcracker production that taking the time to stitch these seems crazy. This one took a day, I know that isn't very long, but still. The stitching was slow. The linen thread count was too tiny for me, my eyes are changing, and the silk thread was lovely, but slippery, so there was some swearing. I am so happy with how it looks. To finish, I glued some felt on the back. I had plans to make many of these, but so far only one has been made. I might start another soon. I needed an extra light and my glasses which I couldn't find, and when I did, the case was stuffed with floss and needles from my last stitching project. I also was trying to find my headlamp, which looks ridiculous and really kills the whole jane-austen-stitching-lady look. Not that I stitch in costume, but I might. At least I have a cup of tea near by. The mark the headlamp makes on my forehead stays way too long. But now that I am imaging it, stitching in a empire style dress with a headlamp on would be an outstanding thing to do.

I found free snowflake cross-stitch patterns here, I think I used another site in the end, but google images "free cross-titch snowflake" will set you up with a ton of options.

And, I'm happy to say I got a great gift for my hard-to-buy-for-husband— this bookand this (bought at the grocery store) to go with it. Excited!! I know he will love it.

November 13, 2013

Sadie requested a ballet shrug and after I finished Delia's sweater using the Raglanify phone app, I wanted to try it again. So far, I have only made kids' sizes with this sweater generator, so some of the issues about it not having a place to enter chest dimensions didn't really affect my projects—so far, I really do love using this. You just enter in key dimensions and your gauge and then knit from the top down. To make a cardigan, I didn't join in the round and did the V neck option. It worked out great. All the details, yarn specs, etc. are on my Ralvery project page. I used this site, too, when I was knitting Delia's sweater, and found they worked out almost exactly the same, but Raglanify was much less work for me.

I finished it with a toggle closure. I actually snipped this toggle off of a sweater that was headed for donation. I was looking for toggle at the button shop when it donned on me, I had already had some really good ones in the garage on sweaters the girls have outgrown.